Textile apparatus for bulking yarns and process



Se t, 17, 1963 H. c. SALYER ETAL 3,103,731

TEXTILE APPARATUS FOR BULKING YARNS AND PROCESS Filed Sept. 18, 1961 2Sheets-Sheet l IO HOWARD c. SALYER 1 CHARLES A. FLETCHER INVENTOR.

A TOR N EYS Sept. 17, 1963 H. C. SALYER ETAL TEXTILE APPARATUS FORBULKING YARNS AND PROCESS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 18, 1961 FIG. 2

HOWARD C. SALYER CHARLES A. FLETCHER INVENTOR.

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ATTO RN EYS United States Patent 3,103,731 TEXTILE APPARATUS FOR BULKINGYARNS AND PROCESS Howard C. Saiyer and Charles A. Fletcher, both ofKingsport, Tenn, assiguors to Eastman Kodak Company,

Rochester, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Sept. 18, 1961, Ser.No. 138,943 8 Claims. (Cl. 28-4) This invention relates to textileprocessing apparatus and more particularly to an improvement in suchapparatus which provides a means for collecting and removing textilelubricants and chemicals normally applied to textile yarns from the airor other gases employed in carrying out various textile treatingoperations such as yam conveying, entangling, texturing, lofting,bulking, liquid treating, wet spinning and other operations,particularly in operations in which the yarn is treated in a jet bymeans of high velocity air or other gas. The invention also relates to amethod of handling contaminant-laden exhaust gases from jet processingoperations in which a lubricated yarn is treated with high velocity airor other gases so as to remove such contaminants from the air streamemerging from the jets.

A number of types of jets, have been described for imparting variousconfigurations or properties to textile yarns, particularly syntheticyarns of the continuous filament variety. Typical of such jets are thosedisclosed in the US. patents to Claus, 2,100,588; Taylor, 2,067,251;

Mummery, 2,379,824; McDermott, 2,460,390; Griset, 2,661,588; Head,2,884,756; Dyer, 2,924,868; Field, 2,962,794; and Jackson, 2,737,688.Normally, when jets of the type disclosed in these and other patents areemployed they are used to process textile fibers which have had a liquidmaterial or lubricant applied to the fiber to facilitate handling or useor to contribute desirable properties as, for example, to reduce andcontrol static electricity, to reduce lfriction or to impart desirablecharacteristics of softness or stiffness of hand, potential adhesivenessand so forth. In some cases the yarn is wound and stored for a period oftime prior to treatment in the jet, while in other cases processing inthe jet may immediately follow the liquid application. To a greater orless degree, determined by the nature of the liquid applied and the timelag before passage of the yarns through the jet, it has been found thatthe action of the high velocity gases passing through the jet tends toblow or strip off a certain amount of the yarn treating liquid. Forexample, a yarn may be treated with 3% by weight of the yarn with a yarnfinishing oil in a 10% emulsion in water by weight. Thus a total of 30%liquid is applied to the yarn by weight. If this yarn is immediatelytreated in a high velocity air jet where the air impinges on the yarn atclose to sonic velocities, as much as 50% of this liquid may be strippedolf the yarn by the air fiow. If the yarn is aged prior to passagethrough the jet the water in the lubricant emulsion would evaporate sothat only 3% oil might be present, but experience has shown that certaintypes of air jets may remove a substantial portion. of even thisresidual with the result that the treated yarn may, for example, containonly 2.5% oil after the jet treatment. While the amount of oil removedis not appreciablewhen only a few ends of yarn are being treatedpractical mill operations often involve the processing of many thousandsof pounds of yarn per day in a single operating room and it will be seenthat the amount of liquid, oil or other chemicals thrown into theatmosphere in a large scale operation may, in the course of a day, runinto several hundred or even a thousand or more pounds.

When the practice of using jets for treating various textile yarnsoriginated, the need for collecting lubricants and chemicals blown offthe yarn and carried in the exhaust gas from these jets was notrecognized. However, it is now known that it is necessary to collect andcontrol these contaminated gases for two important reasons, first, toeliminate the health hazard and second, to prevent contamination of theproduct and machinery with the objectionable residue deposited by theseoily or misty gases. Prior to our invention various collecting systemswere used but these required the use of large volume, expensive, :andsometimes complicated exhaust ducts and fans. Furthermore, theeffectiveness of such devices depends primarily on the volume andsuction of these large and sometimes unwieldly exhaust systems. Incontrast to this relatively cumbersome method of eliminatingcontaminants from the atmosphere of the processing rooms and from themachines themselves the present invention utilizes the inertial energyof the high velocity oil or chemical particles entrained in the exhaustgas emerging from the jet to separate these particles from the air orother gas and does not require the use of large volume, high suctionexhaust fans and ducts.

The invention has as a primary object to provide a means of efficientlycollecting and separating textile lubricants and other chemicals fromthe exhaust gases emerging from jets through which lubricated textileyarns are passed in such operations as conveying, texturing, lofting,bulking, and the like.

Another object is to provide a simple and elfective mechanism forremoving atomized lubricant and other chemicals from the atmosphere inthe immediate vicinity of jets through which a lubricated textile yarnis passed by means of high velocity air or other gases.

Another object is to provide a means of preventing the contamination ofthe air in a textile processing room or operating space by entrainingthe lubricant-containing air emerging from high velocity jets throughwhich a lubricated yarn is passed and conveying it way from the jet areawithout the use of large volume and complicated exhaust ducts and fans.

, This invention has as an object to provide a means of removing excessliquid from a running strand of yarn by means of the energy of highvelocity gases.

Another and specific object is to take advantage of the energy of. thehigh velocity air or other gas employed in a textile jet processingoperation to create conditions in the immediate vicinity of the jetorifices such as 'will prevent the escape of contaminated exhaust gasinto the outside atmosphere of the operating area.

from jets through which lubricated textile yarns are passed in suchoperations as conveying, entangling, texturing, lofting, bulking, andthe like and comprises a housing or enclosure for the jet provided withcurvilinear internal surfaces or walls adjacent its top and having anopening at the top which permits the processing jet to be moved into andout of operating position and allows the textile yarn to pass into andout of the jet. The jet may be mounted in the housing so that it can bemanually raised for threading the yarn strand through the jet atstart-up and then lowered to running position. The high velocity.contaminated exhaust gases which result from the stripping of lubricantsor other treating liquids from the yarn by the turbulent processing gas(normally pressurized dry air) are, in accordance with the invention,directed at the curved surfaces in a manner which causes the gas togradually change direction by an angle of approximately The inertialenergy of the entrained liquid particles in the gas causes themtoimpinge on the curved surfaces and condense. The resulting liquids arecontinuously drained off in a gutter or other type of conduit. One ofthe important and novel features of the invention is that the movementof the high velocity gas around the curved surfaces creates a partialvacuum in the top of the housing and causes room air to be drawn intothe housing, thus insuring, not only complete removal of the contaminantbut also precluding the escape of any lubricant mist-laden air into theatmosphere of the processing room. The cleaned gas is exhausted from thetreating area by a low suction exhaust system or allowed to vent intothe room environment with or without further treatment by filter orother devices.

In the following examples and description we have set forth several ofthe preferred embodiments of our invention, but they are included merelyfor purposes of illustration and not as a limitation thereof.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic, elevational, sectional view of a conventionalsynthetic yarn spinning operation from which lubricated yarn is passedthrough a processing jet equipped with the device of this invention.

FIGURE 2. is a partial cut-away vertical sectional view illustrating thecontaminant collecting and condensing device of the invention andshowing a conventional yarntreating jet positioned therein in operatingposition and illustrating in dotted lines how it may be raised forthreading up.

FIGURE 3 is a partial perspective view of the top of the contaminantcollecting housing of the invention and illustrating the position of aconventional yarn processing jet in the raised threading position.

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 but showing the yarn processingjet in the lowered running position.

FIGURE 5 is a partial cut-away vertical elevational view of another formof a contaminant collecting device with a conventional yarn processingjet in the operating position and in which the curved collecting surfaceis provided in the form of a removable top for the contamin-antcollecting housing.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the removable top of the device ofFIGURE 5.

FIGURE 7 is a partial cut-away view in vertical section of another formof contaminant collecting housing in accordance with our invention andhaving a slightly different form of internal collecting surface and alsoillustrating a specific form of jet which may be mounted therein.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the numeral 1 designates the cabinet of aconventional apparatus for the spinning of synthetic yarns by theextrusion of a filament-forming solution or melt. The numeral 2designates the extruded filaments proceeding through the cabinet fromthe spinnerette 3. The strand of yarn filaments 4 emerges from thecabinet and passes in contact with the surface of an applicator roll 5which dips into and conveys lubricant or other treating liquid 6 fromthe container 7 onto the yarn.

After treatment with the lubricant the yarn passes over a godet roll 8and thence to a jet processing operation as shown in FIGURE 1. Theprocessing of the yarn in the jet may be an operation such as lofting,bulking, entangling, texturing or other operation it may be desired toperform upon the yarn to give it special physical properties to adapt itfor use in a wide variety of textile operations. A jet for such purposeis indicated by the numeral 9, which jet is, in accordance with ourinvention, adjustably positioned within a contaminant collecting andcondensing housing It). The yarn strand 4 passes from the godet roll 8over a ceramic guide 11 positioned on one edge of the opening into thetop of the collecting housing, thence through the jet 9 and emerges onthe other side of the jet to pass over another ceramic guide 12, thenceover yarn guides 13 and 14. After passing under guide 14 the yarn passesinto the traverse mechanism 15 of a conventional yarn winding device 16where a yarn package is formed. It will be understood that the jet 9 issupplied with a suitable source of high velocity air or other gas at adesired or predetermined pressure through tube 9A.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, which illustrates one of the preferred formsof the contaminant collecting and condensing device of our invention andalso illustrates the conditions which prevail in the vicinity of thejet, the jet 9 is movably positioned within the contaminant containinghousing by a mechanism, not shown, which permits it to be raised tothreading position or lowered to running position. As previouslydescribed, the yarn strand 4 passes over a ceramic guide 11 which isatfixed to the edge of the opening in the housing 10 in the mannershown. The strand then passes through a ceramic eyelet I7 fixed to thejet on one side, thence through the jet and out through another ceramiceyelet 18 on the opposite side of the jet. The processed yarn thenpasses over ceramic guide 12 in all respects the same as guide 11 andthence out of the processing mechanism. It will be understood that airor other gas at a predetermined pressure passes into the jet through theconduit 9A in the direction indicated by the vertical arrow.

As will also be evident from FIGURE 2 the housing 10 is connected to anddischarges into a duct 13 for conveying away exhaust air or other gasfrom which a substantial portion of the lubricant or other contaminanthas been removed. The duct 18 also serves to collect condensed liquidwhich flows down the sides of the collecting housing 10. The condensedliquid is conveyed away through outlet conduit 19 to storage or to areworking operation to recover lubricant or other valuable components Itwill be understood that the yarn strand 4 passing in the directionindicated by the horizontal arrows arrives at the jet with a coating ofthe lubricant previously picked up in the lubricating operation. Sinceair or other gas passes through the jet at a high velocity and withextreme turbulence it will readily be seen that the lubricant or otherliquid will be blown ed the yarn in the form of a very fine mist oraerosol which, were it not for the provision of the present invention,would contaminate the air, not only in the immediate vicinity of the jetoperation but also practically the entire working space in which suchmachines are located. In addition such air, heavily loaded withlubricant or other contaminant, would tend to condense upon themachinery and upon the yarn product itself. These undesirable resultsare prevented by the instant invention.

Assuming the jet to have been properly threaded as shown in FIGURE 3 andthen to have been lowered into housing 10 in running position as shownin FIGURE 4 and the jet supplied with high velocity air through conduit9A, the contaminated high velocity exhaust gas from the jet will beginto emerge drom the jet through the jet orifices through ceramic eyelets17 and 18. This is a fine mist containing droplets of oil 19 which, forpurposes of illustration, have been greatly exaggerated. The housing 10whose inner walls in the top portion are curved or curvilinear in formprovides a means of collecting and directing this high velocitycontaminated air away from the jet. The lubricant or other chemical thusblown off the yarn as droplets on aerosol then converges or impingesupon the walls of the housing 10 and collects and flows as a liquidcondensate down these walls. The high velocity exhaust air itself, shownas arrows 21, likewise strikes the curved surface of the housing 10 andis turned downwardly inside the housing. This in turn creates a partialvacuum at the opening 22 which pulls a certain amount of room air intothe housing 10, thus effectively preventing the escape into theatmosphere of any particles or droplets of lubricant or other treatingliquid. As the gaseous mixture 21 emerges from the jet and passesthrough the housing 10 it expands and thus loses most of its velocity.housing 10 and by connecting conduit 18 which, if desired, may servemore than one contaminant collecting device as shown in FIGURE 2. Theair thus denuded of lubricant or other contaminant may be exhausted fromthe treating area by a low suction exhaust system or allowed to ventinto the room environment with or without iurther treatment by filtersor other devices.

FIGURE illustrates a modification of our invention which, althoughoperating on the same basic principles as the device illustrated inFIGURE 2, nevertheless possesses certain features of structural noveltyand advantage. In this embodiment the curved surfaces provided forchanging the direction of the contaminated lair emerging from the jetsand for creating the partial vacuum referred to above are incorporatedin a removable top 23 also illustrated in perspective in FIGURE 6. Inthis embodiment the jet 9 is held in fixed position within thecontaminant collecting and condensing housing It) and in this respectdiffers from the mechanism shown in FIG- URE 2. The removable top 23 isprovided with a weighted handle 24 and slit ceramic eyelets 25 whichserve the purpose of keeping the top in position on top of the jetmerely by force of gravity. Inspection of FIGURE 6 in connection withFIGURE 5 will readily indicate how the top 23 is placed in operativeposition with respect to the jet with the yarn being threaded into theslit eyelets merely by lowering the top over the running strand orstrands of yarn.

The collection and separation of the contaminant from the exhaust gasesemerging from the orifices l7 and 18 in this device takes place in thesame manner as does the collection and separation in the device shown inFIGURE 2, the droplets or mist of lubricant or other chemicals blown offthe yarn in the air stream impinging on the curved surface of top 23 andbeing condensed thereon and directed as liquid condensate downwardlyalong the inner walls of the housing 10. As in the previously describeddevice, the cleaned air passes into the duct 18 and is conveyed to theroom environment or elsewhere as desired. Likewise, the condensate whichfalls from the housing It: is collected in the duct and is conveyedtherefrom by the outlet 19. As in the previously described device,direction of the exhaust air downwardly inside the curved surface of thetop 23 creates a partial vacuum in the voids 22 between the top 23 andthe walls of the housing lit} and this vacuum pulls room air into thehousing, thus effectively preventing the escape of lubricant or othercontaminants into the atmosphere.

While we have found it convenient to illustrate our invention byreference to truly curvilinear surfaces in the devices of FIGURES 2 and5 the same results may be obtained by employment of a housing providedwith a cries of plane surfaces as, for example, the device illustratedin FIGURE 7, such series of plane surfaces being indicated by thenumeral 26 and arranged in generally curvilinear form. Similarly,various forms of jets may be employed to process the yarn in any desiredmanner, one conventional type of bulking jet being shown in crosssection in FIGURE 7. Likewise, the housing itself can be rectangular incross section, as illustrated in the various figures of the drawing orit can be circular or have any other geometric configuration dictated bythe requirements of any particular application or design. Similarly, theinvention can be applied to the collection of exhaust from any number ofjets, the contaminants from which it is desired to control.

In further illustration of our invention a typical operation involvingits use may be carried out as follows:

A 55 denier 13 filament dull acetate yarn produced in accordance with :aconventional dry spinning operation was subjected to an entanglementprocess by passing it through a jet designed to intermingle thefilaments at periodic points along the run of the strand. The yarnemerging from the spinning machine and before entering In this conditionit is carried away by the,

the jet was treated with a yarn finishing oil in a 15% emulsion so as todeposit 3.0% by weight residual lubricant on the yarn. High velocity airwas supplied to the jet at a pressure of 15 psi. g. The yarn emergingfrom the entanglement jet retained 2.3% residual lubrican-t thusindicating that approximately .70% lubricant had been blown off the yarnduring treatment by the jet. In order to evaluate the effectiveness ofthe collector housing as illustrated in FIGURE 2 the jet was operated inthe raised position and the lubricant entrained in the jet exhaust wasmeasured with a laboratory air-sampling device. This test indicated that16.7 ting/m. of oil was contained in the exhaust. The jet was thenlowered into the collector and the test was repeated. This testindicated that only 2.22 mg./m. remained in the air in the vicinity ofthe treatment jet which illustrates the efficiency of our invention inremoving contaminants, it being noted that the normal atmosphere of aspinning room in which no jet treatment is taking place contains anamount of lubricant mist corresponding to about 2.5 mg./m. It will thusbe seen that a substantial reduction in the amount of lubricant or othercontaminant in which a lubricated yarn is processed in the vicinity of ajet is thus effected. By operating in the manner described above in theproduction of entangled yarn an excellent product that processes well ina tricot knitting operation can be made.

In addition to the above-mentioned benefits to be derived from thepresent invention \a collateral benefit is the fact that the contaminantcollecting housing of the invention provides a means of reducing thenoise inherent in the use of yarn processing jets, especially the largertype jets required to bulk heavy denier yarns and which employ highpressure and high velocity air flow. It will be readily understood thatthe noise problem is aggravated when there are a large number of jets inoperation and that any-thing which tends to reduce the noise level willcontribute to the safety and efficiency of the operation. It has beenfound that the contaminant collecting housing of the present invention,particularly when constructed of suitable sound reflective or absorbentmaterials substantially reduces the noise level and is thus a valuableadjunct to any jet processing operation. As has been mentioned above,the stripping ofi of lubricant or other treating liquids from the yarnduring the processing opera-tion represents a substantial economic loss.The instant invention also provides a means of collecting and recoveringsuch yarn treating liquids which may be reworked to enable valuablelubricants or other ingredients to be reused as yarn treating agents.

While in the above description emphasis has been laid upon theemployment of our invention to recover lubricants and similar liquidchemical compositions from .the high velocity gases emerging from theorifices of jets used to process yarns in such operations as'texturing,lof-ting, bulking and the like, it is also applicable to the removal ofexcess liquid from a running strand of yarn emerging from a fluidtreatment bath as, for example, a coagulating bath such as is employedin various wet spinhing processes and also for removal of the excessliquid from yarn undergoing other liquid treatment such as washing, hotwater drafting, dyeing, sizing and the like. Typical of such uses arewet spinning of regenerated cellulose fibers, wet spinning of acrylicfibers and hot water dratting of polyolefin and polyester fibers. Thus,while in the illustrative example given above reference has been made tothe collection of lubricants and other treating liquids in the airstream emerging from jets employed in the processing of celluloseacetate yarn the invention is equally applicable to the gaseoustreatment land to recovery of various treating liquids in the processingof other types of yarns such as continuous filament yarns of polyester,polyamide, polyolefin, acrylic and modified acrylic materials and isalso applicable to yarns spun from staple 7 fibers of the foregoingsynthetic materials or spun from such natural fibers as cotton and wool.

Although the invention has been described in considerable detail withparticular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof,variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scopeof the invention as described hereinabove and as defined in the appendedclaims.

We claim:

1. In an apparatus for processing textile yarns in which the yarn,lubricated with a textile lubricant or other yarn treating liquid, ispassed through a jet under the influence of a high velocity gaseousstream which tends to strip from the yarn a portion of the lubricant andto cause it to be emitted into the surrounding atmosphere from the jetorifices in the form of a fine mist or aerosol, the improvement whichcomprises a yarn processing jet adjustably mounted in a housingtherefor, means for supplying high velocity air or other gas to the jet,said housing having an opening in the top thereof permitting the raisingand lowering of the jet into and out of operating position within thehousing, the inner walls of said housing adjacent the jet havingcurvilinear surfaces and providing a means for directing the mist-ladenstream of gas away from the vicinity of said jet and for condensing outthe liquid components thereof.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the housing for the jetis in the form of a conduit which both collects yarn treating liquidcondensed on its inner walls in the upper part thereof and conveys awaythe condensed liquid and air or other gas denuded of said liquid.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the housing for the jetis in the form of a conduit which both collects yarn treating liquidcondensed on its inner walls in the upper part thereof and conveys awaythe condensed liquid and air or other gas denuded of said liquid and inwhich the housing is connected to a source of low vacuum suction.

4. In an apparatus for processing textile yarns in which the yarn,lubricated with a textile lubricant or other yarn treating liquid, ispassed through a jet under the influence of a high velocity gaseousstream which tends to strip from the yarn a portion of the lubricant andto cause it to be emitted into the surrounding atmosphere from the jetorifices in the form of a fine mist or aerosol, the improvement whichcomprises a yarn processing jet, fixedly mounted in a housing therefor,means for supplying high velocity air or other gas to the jet, saidhousing having an open top, said opening being partially closed by aweighted top resting on said fixedly mounted jet, said top beingprovided with slit type orifices for guidance of the yarn into and outof the jet, the inner walls of said top having curvilinear surfaces andproviding a means for directing the mist-laden stream of gas away fromthe vicinity of said jet and for condensing out the liquid componentsthereof.

5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which the housing for the jetis in the form of a conduit which both collects yarn treating liquid onits inner walls and conveys away the condensed liquid and the air orother gas denuded of said liquid.

6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which the housing for the jetis in the form of a conduit which both collects yarn treating liquid onits inner walls and conveys away the condensed liquid and the air orother gas denuded of said liquid and in which the housing is connectedto a source of low vacuum suction.

7. The process for treating yarn previously treated with lubricant orother yarn treating material whereby when the yarn is processed in ahigh velocity air jet, said yarn treating material, which is strippedoff because of the jet action, is largely prevented from escaping andcausing undesirable contamination, which comprises threading suchtreated yarn into and through such jet, moving the yarn and the jet intoa small confined space whereby the linear directional movement of theyarn into and from the jet is caused to change from a relativelystraight line movement and the said lubricant and yarn treatingmaterials which come off the moving yarn is collected in the confinedspace, and conducting away at least some of such materials thuscollected.

8. The process in accordance with claim 7 wherein when the yarn and jetare moved into the confined space the yarn is by the movement broughtinto contact with low wear guide members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,516,177 Blake July 25, 1950 2,631,385 K-inraide Mar. 17, 19533,009,309 Breen et a1. Nov. 21, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 861,108 GreatBritain Feb. 15, 1961

1. IN AN APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING TEXTILE YARNS IN WHICH THE YARN,LUBRICATED WITH A TEXTILE LUBRICANT OR OTHER YARN TREATING LIQUID, ISPASSED THROUGH A JET UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF A HIGH VELOCITY GASEOUSSTREAM WHICH TENDS TO STRIP FROM THE YARN A PORTION OF THE LUBRICANT ANDTO CAUSE IT TO BE EMITTED INTO THE SURROUNDING ATMOSPHERE FROM THE JETORIFICES IN THE FORM OF A FINE MIST OR AEROSOL, THE IM-